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"Tell me, then, what thou art, and who sent thee hither."

"Tell me, mother!" said the child.

"Thy Heavenly Father sent thee!" answer Hester Prynne.

...

"He did not send me!" cried she, positively. "I have no Heavenly Father!"

The Scarlet Letter pg. 90

This exchange between Hester Prynne and Pearl takes place at their home in the outskirts of Boston. This is significant to the overall book because it shows the readers that this child is different, she understands her situation greatly. Throughout the book it is repeatedly stated that Pearl is an imp, she knows she is different but she has odd ways of showing her knowledge. Before Pearl could even speak she understood she was born out of an act of lust, not love. The behavior of this child seems to embody that she is born in sin, for she is misbehaved. The child's response with "I have no Heavenly Father!" shows that Pearl understands she is born in sin and Hester just realizes her daughter knows of her mistakes. The child saying this also means that she is not the traditional Catholic child, which raises concerns amongst the Puritan community. When Pearl is asked who is her father, if not the Heavenly Father, her response is that she was picked from a rose bush. The impact this has on the book so far is that upon raising concern in the community they want to take Pearl away from Hester which leads into revealing the father of Pearl.

False Alarm

- Christine Mai-Duc
- November 22, 2013 
- http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-false-alarm-lax-20131122,0,416258.story#axzz2lW4IOyCZ

Exactly three weeks after the shooting in LAX another shooting scare took place. Though this time it was only a false alarm. An anonymous caller reported seeing a man with a gun in Terminal Four, immediately police responded. At the same time reports of shots being fired in Terminal Five came in, everyone was evacuated from the area. All these reports caused extreme panic in the airport. Peter Ward, an IT consultant, said he saw people diving behind counters and about two dozen police came in with their guns drawn. The police came in with guns and bomb sniffing dogs, they formed a barricade at the security entrance, directed people out, and scanned the area for the gunman. After all the chaos  it turned out that there was no gunman on the grounds of LAX, it was indeed a false alarm. Police conclude that the gun shot like noise was a car accident that took place outside the terminal. With all the shootings taking place lately, it makes complete sense for the people of the airport to panic at a loud noise. The fear people have formed to guns adds another reason to why gun control needs to become extremely strict.

Puritan Clothing

Puritans dressed in very simple looking clothes. The colors of their clothes consisted of black, gray, brown, and deep red. Nothing too bright and eye catching, for that would go against their beliefs. The women's clothes consisted of many things; stockings, petticoat, chemise, bolster, bodice, skirt, apron, coif, outer gown and shoes. They wore a bodice which went to the waist line and had short tabs at the bottom edge. It gave the women a long and slim waist, which was what was greatly desired by all. Though the bodice was low cut, it was always layered by the chemise. Under their skirt, women would wear a bolster (thickly padded roll). This gave the allusion of wider hips. Sometimes the skirt would have an opening, revealing a decretive petticoat. Other times, when the skirt did not have an opening they would wear an apron. The women's shoes resembled the men's, low heeled and round toed. Men's clothes also consisted of many things; stockings, shirt, breeches, waistcoat, doublet, cape or coat, cap or hat and boots or shoes. The shirts had full sleeves and over it went the sleeveless waistcoat. Over the waistcoat was a doublet which had tabs on the bottom edges, just above the hips. The breeches (pants) came down to the bottom of the men's knees and they were very puffy. Their stockings came up to be just over their pants, leaving no skin exposed. Lastly came the low heeled and round toed shoes. A Puritan's outfit consisted of many different clothes, but in the end it came together looking very simple. 

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mosmd/clothing.htm

BatKid

- http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-francisco-batkid-miles-wish-20131115,0,3735507.story?page=1#axzz2kqGOiB00
-November 16, 2013
-Samantha Schaefer

     Make a Wish  has done it again. They have made a little boy's dream come true in a way that no one would have ever imagined. The city of San Francisco was transformed into Batman's Gotham City. About 12,000 volunteers lined the streets of the city in support of the young boy who has been battling cancer since he was twenty months old. He has been in remission since June and all he wanted was to be Batman. 

    Make a Wish does nothing half way. They organized a city wide rescue mission for the boy. Police Chief Greg Suhr, asked Miles, the young boy, for help in Gotham City. Melinda Haag, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, and FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Johnson announced formal charges against Riddler and Penguin. Miles even had a Bat Mobile, which was a Lamborghini, to help him get through the mission. 

      Thousands of viewers swelled with emotion and pride, many said this event "restored their faith in humanity". 230,000 tweets and 19,000 pictures came up under the hashtage "SFBatKid". This day brought all of the United States together, including President Obama, to witness something spectacular. Imagine what the young boy felt as he looked upon the crowd of thousands cheering him on. If a story like this does not bring emotion out of one, then what will? 

SOAPST

Knowing what one reads is very important, otherwise they can go through a whole book without knowing what is going on. One way to understand the context of a written piece is by know the SOAPST. Education the type of text that needs to be understood. The speaker of Education is Ralp Waldo Emerson who is a full time poet, essay write, and lecturer. The occasion of this writing is 1820s-1830s. This book was written long ago, but Emerson wanted his writing to be viewed by a wide audience. He successfully was able to reach large numbers of audience by writing this book in modern English. The sole purpose of Emerson's essay was to inform and reform. He wanted his audience to see how schools teach  and treat their student body. This essay was teaching the people how schools should be with education. Emerson felt that the education of that time was bad, this is the subject of his text. Emerson is writing his book with much confidence in his tone, but makes sure to criticize in a kind manor. Emerson wanted the education system to change, for the students were not and in some cases are still not being educated well. Education is a work in progress, maybe years from now the education will be closer to what Emerson desired so greatly.

LAX Shooting

- "Travelers shaken up and stranded as LAX is thrown into turmoil"
- November 1, 2013
- http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-lax-shooting-scene-20131102,0,3080177.story#axzz2jSGtO43h

The idea of a shooting has become a common occurrence now a days. It has come to a point that hearing about a shooting is no longer surprising. That alone, is a problem in and of itself.
As unshocking hearing about shootings has become, to some degree is scars one to hear about it happening. On November 1st, the terminals of LAX were shaken with a shooting. Hundreds ran for their lives. Leaving behind wallets, luggage, and their travel plans. Once the shooter was controlled passengers continued to wait for the terminals to reopen. They roamed the roads of the airport, looking for a way out. The flights that were coming into the airport were diverted to other airports, flights living were canceled or delayed until further notice. As the hours wore on, these stranded passengers left to nearby hotels and restaurants. Those who did not know what was going on parked their cars in nearby lots and made their way to the airport by foot.
Sepulveda  blvd was eerily empty. The bumper to bumper traffic was replaced with travelers lugging their luggage down the street. One women compared that moment to a scene at the ending of a disaster movie, an analogy that is quite accurate. Many shared their scary experience with the news crews. A couple coming to visit family with their one year old son were forced to wait in the plane for four hours, the flight was delayed; had it been on time they would be in the middle of the shooting with their baby. Another man was at the airport waiting for his elderly mom, who does not speak English; he had not heard from her and did not know her where abouts during the shooting. As most worried and stressed over their canceled plans and missing loved ones, others stood grateful for having not been in the area during the shooting.
Shootings such as this not only affect the victims there at that moment, but also affects the people around the area as well as the loved ones. Situations like this are scary and unimaginable to be a part of. If only there were ways to prevent shootings.